Namaskar Mahatmas!
Last week we did sloka 5 of the Upanishad. The sloka explained that the wise man who sees oneness in all the differences, does not hate anyone. Hatred is born out of self-interest, whose basis is the sense of separateness. When the unity of the Self in all is realized, there is no room for hatred.
This week we will meditate on the sloka 6.
YASMIN SARVAANI BHUTAANI AATMAIVAABHOOD VIJAANATAH
TATRA KO MOHAH KAH SHOKA EKATVAM ANUPASHYATAH (6)
Yasmin – when; vijaanatah – to the knower; atma – Atman; eva – verily; sarvaani – all; bhootani – beings; abhoot – has become; tatra – then; ekatvam – oneness; anupashyatah – of one who beholds; kah – what; mohah – delusion; kah – what; shokah – sorrow
WHAT DELUSION, WHAT SORROW IS THERE FOR THE WISE MAN WHO SEES THE UNITY OF EXISTENCE AND PERCEIVES ALL BEINGS AS HIS OWN SELF?
“Yasmin vijanatah – for a self-realized sage with the highest knowledge and spiritual wisdom; sarvani bhutani – the entire world of beings; atma eva abhuta – becomes one in his very self; tatra ekatvam anupashyat – at this level of consciousness, he sees unity or oneness incessantly; ko moha kah shoka – what delusion, what sorrow can, then, be there for him.
Very beautiful sloka!!!! How wonderful it will be to live without sorrow? The sorrow is because of our identification with our body. From ignorance the ego takes birth. From ego, the delusion is born. This delusion becomes the cause of chain of sorrows. The delusion is like a screen which covers the sight of the truth.
Even though Vidura advised Dhrithrashtra about the dharma, Dhrithrashtra out of delusion supported his son. The sorrow became never ending in his life. The first sloka of Gita itself shows ‘what ‘my’ sons are doing in the battlefield?’ Grief and delusion rest upon the belief in diversity (I and You), which leads to competition and all forms of selfishness. With the realisation of the Self, the sense of diversity vanishes and the cause of misery is removed.
Every pain, sorrow conveys us something deeper in our life – that is the time to change. What is this change that needs to take place? It is the cultivation of right attitude towards life. Right attitude is becoming more expansive, spacious within our heart. All experiences we undergo teach us a lesson. Unfortunately we fail to learn from these experiences.
When we try to find our way in the ocean, we must follow the guidance of the light of the pole star, and not by the light on the bow of the ship. Similarly, by focussing on the eternal, the changeless Self within us, we will remain unaffected by the changing experiences of life.
This sloka explains the state where the wise man’s delusion (I am the body) is completely gone, along with that all sorrow ended in his life. He is said wise because he looks into his inner stuff (the Self, the Supreme Lord) and not the outer covering (names and forms). In a garland there may be different kinds of flowers with different colours, fragrance but all are tied by one single string. Even though unseen, we understand that without that the garland cannot exist. The wise man sees this string alone wherever he is. His prajna is only on the Self.
Our scriptures warn us again and again in various ways that this body is not complete. It has birth, death, disease and old age as its flaws. The world is a place of misery and impermanent. Sorrow comes when we fail to understand these realities and continue to have desires. When the mind focuses on the body, it is in cycle of happiness and sorrow. The same mind when focussed on the Self which is complete in Itself, it experiences the state what is explained in this sloka. In the same world the wise man lives happily and we in ignorance live a life of sorrow.
We all know the story of Krishna. Vasudeva promised to give Kamsa all the children born out of Devaki. What is the state of mind of Vasudeva when he gave the new born babies to Kamsa? Bhagavatham says beautifully about this wise man: “what is there impossible for a wise man to bear? What is there for which a really learned one will crave? What object is there that a person established in Atman cannot give up?” The realised soul is beyond like and dislike and all pairs of opposites like heat and cold; pleasure and pain; praise and insult. He is like a person in love whose mind is always soaked in thought of the lover and is ready to give up everything for the sake of love.
The sage immersed in this oneness is ever happy. How can there be sorrow when one is full? There is nothing that he lacks in life. In his presence we feel lot of peace and happiness. There is love and divinity in whatever he does. His look, smile, speech, walking, sitting, eating all reveal the face of completeness and love of Self.
Love gives everything; there is no thought of receiving. Love has no complaints; it accepts all. Love removes all fears; it shows everything as beauty. Love is the real refuge; it is the beauty of life. Love is expression of the Self. It is the thread on which beings are connected. In love there are never two.
We feel a river to have two banks only because of the water in between. If the water ego dries up, only oneness remains.
When love for the Self awakens, the ego disappears. Then we realise oneness with each other. We realise the oneness with the whole of the creation.
SUMMARY:
Wherever we see two, we can understand that we are in delusion. Moving in a limited space is always painful. We fall with our attachments, get hurt with our expectations, and ultimately lead a life of sorrow searching for happiness outside us.
The wise man moves in a limitless space (the Self) leaving all that are impermanent (the body and what are all attached to body). He is ever satisfied, contented (absence of desires) and happy in his own Self. He can separate real and unreal in this world and he is constantly in touch with the real, the Self. Hence is beyond delusion and sorrow.
We will continue the next sloka (8), which concludes on the theme of a realised soul. Hari Om!
